Keep updated on all the injury news and roster updates from around the NHL with daily Ice Chips.

Montreal Canadiens

Carey Price will start on Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks, one day after being activated off of injured reserve. Price missed the team's past three games with a lower-body injury which he said he had been dealing with for roughly seven weeks.

Head coach Claude Julien said forward Andrew Shaw suffered a neck injury in Dallas on New Year's Eve, sending him to injured reserve on Thursday. The neck injury is giving Shaw headaches, but team doctors are not diagnosing it as a concussion. However, they are administering concussion protocol because of Shaw’s history.

Projected Lines vs. Canucks 

Forwards

Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Drouin - Domi - Byron
Lehkonen - Kotkaniemi - Armia
Agostino - Chaput - Deslauriers

Defence

Mete - Weber
Reilly - Petry
Kulak - Benn

Goalies

Price
Niemi

Buffalo Sabres

Centre Jack Eichel is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will miss the team's next two games, head coach Phil Housley announced Thursday.

Eichel, who was named to the Atlantic All-Star team on Wednesday, has 15 goals and 49 points in 40 games this season.

The Sabres host the Panthers tonight before visiting the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

Winnipeg Jets 

Thursday's Practice Lines 

Forwards

Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Little-Laine
Perreault-Lowry-Tanev
Copp-Roslovic-Lemieux 

Extras: Petan, Appleton

Defence

Morrissey-Trouba
Chiarot-Myers
Morrow-Kulikov
Extra: Niku

Goalies

Hellebuyck 
Brossoit 

Florida Panthers

Roberto Luongo will start Thursday's game against the Buffalo Sabres. The 39-year-old is 8-7-1 with an .897 save percentage and a 3.19 goals-against average this season.

New York Islanders

Robin Lehner will start in net Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks, while Tom Kuhnhackl will draw back into the lineup after a two-game absence.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Leafs recalled Michael Hutchinson and Kasimir Kaskisuo from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League ahead of their afternoon clash against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. According to TSN Maple Leafs reporter Kristen Shilton, Hutchinson is likely to get the start today.

Backup goalie Garret Sparks was slated to make his fourth straight start in net, but will be held out due to precautionary reasons as he's currently under concussion protocol following Wednesday’s practice. TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports Sparks took a shot to the mask during Wednesday's practice. The 25-year-old Sparks has a 6-2-1 record with a .905 save percentage and a 3.01 goal-against average in 10 games this season.

Starter Frederik Andersen remains sidelined with a groin injury and was placed on the injured reserve (retroactive to Dec. 23) on Thursday. 

Toronto picked up Hutchinson from the Florida Panthers over the weekend for a 2020 fifth-round pick while Kaskisuo has never played in a NHL game.

Hutchinson posted a 1-1-2 record in four games with the Panthers this season with an .893 save percentage and a 4.17 goals-against average. He allowed four goals on 34 shots in his first start with the Toronto Marlies on Monday - a 5-4 overtime win.

Kaskisuo has a 3-5-1 record this season with a .866 save percentage and a 4.12 GAA in 11 games with the Marlies.

The team used the following lines in practice Wednesday:

Practice lines:

Brown-Tavares-Marner
Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Kapanen
Lindholm-Gauthier-Moore

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Ozhiganov
Marincin-Holl

Sparks

TSN Game Notes

NHL Point Leaders – Nov 17 to Present

Player                          Team   Pts       GP       G         A

Nikita Kucherov         TB       44        21        12        32

Johnny Gaudreau        Cgy     40        22        16        24

Connor McDavid        Edm    35        21        13        22

Nathan MacKinnon    Col      34        22        12        22

Mikko Rantanen         Col      33        22        10        23

 

Hutchinson Starts With Panthers in 18-19

Date                Opp                                         Res      GA      SA       Sv        SvPct

10/16/2018      @Phi               SOL    6-5       OTL    5          26        21        .808

10/20/2018      Det                  OTL    4-3       OTL    4          31        27        .871

10/23/2018      @NYR            L          5-2       L          4          19        15        .789

                                                Rec      GA      SA       Sv        SvPct

Totals                                      0-1-2    13        76        63        .829

 

Pettersson Rookie Rankings

Goals               22        1st

Assists 20        1st

Points              42        1st

PPG                 6         1st

PPPts               13        1st       

 

Wild (39P) at Leafs (54P) - 2PM (Jan 3)

TOR 1-0-0 vs MIN in 18-19, 5-3 win in MIN. MIN has won 3 of past 4GP in TOR (lost last)

TOR: (26-11-2)

5-1-0 last 6GP, 27GF, PP 4/14 (shutout loss last game)

Hutchinson 6 starts since beginning of 17-18

Tavares (7G, 4A) last 7GP

MIN: (18-17-3)

1-5-1 last 7GP, 10GF, PP 1/13

Granlund (4A) last 4GP

Flames (54P) at Bruins (48P) - 7PM (Jan 3)

CGY 1-0-0 vs BOS in 18-19, 5-2 win at home. BOS 6-1-1 at home vs CGY in shootout era

BOS: (22-14-4)

Won 2 straight, 2GA in each game, PK 7/7

Pastrnak (1G, 2A) last 2GP

CGY: (25-12-4)

3-0-1 last 4GP, 19GF, PP 3/18

Gaudreau (3G, 5A) last 2GP

Panthers (40P) at Sabres (48P) - 7PM (Jan 3)

FLA 2-0-0 vs BUF in 18-19, 1-0-0 in BUF. FLA 7 straight wins vs BUF

BUF: (21-13-6)

0-2-1 last 3GP, 4GF, PP 2/7

Reinhart (5G, 17A) points in 14 of past 16GP

FLA: (17-15-6)

4-1-0 last 5GP, 13GA, PP 12/14

Barkov (4G, 7A) last 8GP

Hurricanes (37P) at Flyers (35P) - 7PM (Jan 3)

CAR 1-0-0 vs PHI in 18-19, 3-1 win at home. CAR 2-1-0 past 3GP in PHI (lost last)

PHI: (15-19-5)

0-3-1 last 4GP, PP 0/8, 2GF last 3GP

Giroux (0P) last 3GP, 4 shots on net

CAR: (16-17-5)

2-4-0 last 6GP, 10GF, PP 0/20 (shutout twice)

Aho (0P) last 2GP, 6 shots on net

Hawks (36P) at Islanders (46P) - 730PM (Jan 3)

Teams split 2GP in 17-18, CHI winning in NY. CHI 3 straight wins at NYI

NYI: (21-13-4)

Won 4 straight, outscoring opponent 16-5, PP 2/9

Barzal (6G, 3A) 5 game PT streak

CHI: (15-21-6)

5-2-0 last 7GP, 22GF, PP 7/23

Toews (5A) last 4GP

Canucks (44P) at Canadiens (47P) - 730PM (Jan 3)

MTL 1-0-0 vs VAN in 18-19, 3-2 win in VAN. MTL 6 straight wins vs VAN. MTL 8-0-1 last 9GP at home vs VAN

MTL: (21-14-5)

Coming off a 4-2-0 road trip, 20GF, PP 4/17

Domi (4A) last 4GP

VAN: (20-19-4)

3-1-0 on road trip, 11GF, PP 3/14

Pettersson (5G, 1A) last 4GP

Capitals (51P) at Blues (34P) - 8PM (Jan 3)

WSH 2-0-0 vs STL in 17-18. WSH 5 straight wins vs STL

STL: (15-18-4)

Lost 2 straight, 1GF in each game, PP 0/6

O'Reilly (2G, 1A) last 3GP

WSH: (24-11-3)

Won 5 straight on road, 20GF, PP 1/9

Ovechkin (2A) last 6GP

Lightning (64P) at Kings (35P) - 1030PM (Jan 3)

TB 2-0-0 vs LAK in 17-18, 9GF. TB 4 straight wins vs LAK

LAK: (16-22-3)

1-2-0 last 3GP, 4GF, PP 1/7

Kopitar (1G, 3A) last 5GP

TB: (31-7-2)

14-0-1 last 15GP, 4.9GF/G, PP 16/47

Kucherov (7G, 16A) 11 game PT streak